Judge tosses lawsuit against Macomb County for jail suicide

A lawsuit against Macomb County for a jail inmate’s suicide was dismissed by a federal judge, weeks after the jail’s medical provider reached a settlement with the dead woman’s estate.

The lawsuit claimed a Macomb County Jail employee should have placed the late Kristina Prochnow on suicide-watch in August 2011 when she was incarcerated for misdemeanor domestic violence.

Prochnow, 27, of New Baltimore, hanged herself with a bed sheet in a cell on Aug. 15, 2011, two days after entering the jail. She died two days later.

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The case, filed in January 2012, was scheduled for a Nov. 28 trial in front of Judge Avern Cohn in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Cohn on Oct. 29 tossed out the case against the county and jail employee Amy White (previously Amy Franks), ruling that although White violated sheriff’s office policy, her “mishandling of the situation was not a proximate cause of Prochnow’s death.”

Defendant and county contractor Correctional Medical Services Inc., along with two of its employees, Michelle Mason and Stephanie Harmon, reached a settlement with Prochnow’s estate, represented by Kelli Ann Grabow. The Oct. 9 order was sealed, according to court records.

Grabow’s attorney, Ven Johnson, said he is “very dissapointed” in the decision because he believes a question of fact remains as to whether White’s actions contributed to the suicide.

He said Prochnow’s family members have not decided whether to appeal Cohn’s decision and are pleased they achieved a confidential settlement with CMS, aka Corizon.

“The family has been through hell and high water,” he said. “Fortunately, we were able to settle with Corizon.”

CMS was replaced in 2011 as the medical provider at the jail, located on the outskirts of Mount Clemens.

Cohn, in granting the county’s summary disposition, says White failed to personally evaluate Prochnow, instead relying on a deputy who questioned her moments before, when she entered the jail Aug. 13, Cohn says in the 32-page opinion. White completed a form based on the other deputy’s input.

But Cohn says trumping White’s actions were those of CMS nurse Mason, who conducted a face-to-face meeting with Prochnow hours after White was supposed to assess her. Mason determined Prochnow was not a suicide risk but should be placed in the detoxification unit due to drug withdrawal; she was monitored by CMS staff every 12 hours.

Mason knew Prochnow was taking medications for bipolar condition, but Prochnow never asked for them, and that Prochnow was depressed and had anxiety, according to the opinion. She knew Prochnow cut her wrists in a suicide attempt a year before.

Mason wrote in a report Prochnow felt’ “hopeless/helpless” and was “very angry and kicking in cell and yelling in cell,” the opinion says.

But Prochnow told Mason and two others that she was not suicidal, Cohn notes.

A fellow inmate of Prochnow’s testified Prochnow was vomiting and frequently using the toilet, and on the day she hanged herself, “looked like the walking dead. She was very thin” and “aching so bad,” the ruling says.

On the morning of the hanging, Prochnow was transported to Macomb County Circuit Court in downtown Mount Clemens because she failed to appear for a sentencing in another case five weeks previously, according to the opinion.

About 3 p.m., after returning, Prochnow told Mason that she had a rash, and Mason said she would look at it after her break, the ruling says. That’s when Prochnow was found.

About the Author

My beat is the courts of Macomb County and general assignment.
Read more of Jameson Cook's court coverage on his blog http://courthousedish.blogspot.com/ Reach the author at jamie.cook@macombdaily.com
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